How do I build a forecast longer than 5 years?

Diane G.

Updated February 21, 2018 00:00

LivePlan's maximum forecast period is 5 years - this is the typically the longest forecast that can be realistic for most small businesses.

There are industries, however, where a longer-term forecast, such as 10 years, may be preferred. To use LivePlan for this type of forecast, we recommend using two copies of the same company. The first one will have a start date that represents the first five years of the forecast, and the copy will use a different start date representing the second five years.

Note: While LivePlan does allow you to attach multiple forecasts to the same company, all of them must have the same start date. In order to have two forecasts with different start dates, you'll need two companies.

Using Starting Balances in the second forecast segment

Once you have a copy of the company to start the second part of your forecast, you'll want to use the Starting Balances input to represent the results from the first part.

You can refer to the Balance Sheet from the first forecast, and then add these total assets, liabilities, and equity in the Starting Balances input of the second forecast. This will allow the second forecast to operate as a continuation of the first.